Eight Days
by EternallyElvish
Summary: [AU-oneshot] Beth's humdrum life as a diner girl gets turned upside down when a man ducks into her booth during a thunderstorm. There was none quite as intriguing or wonderful as Daryl Dixon, and Beth thinks his smirk might just be what she never knew she wanted all along.


**Hello Readers! So as promised, here is my second Bethyl story! This one is completely AU and taken from a prompt found on tumblr. I really love the potential of this ship! Again, I am no Robert Kirkman, but I hope you enjoy this story :D**

**Please drop me a review with your thoughts, leave a little love in the pretty box below ;)**

**This story was inspired by the song Eight Days a Week by The Beatles (it's a classic)**

**Once again a giant thank you to my Beta NeonRainfall who is just fantastic. If your a fan of Daryl or Doctor Who you should go check out her stories!**

* * *

Beth Greene had met Daryl Dixon on a Wednesday.

It was quite cliché how they met really. He was much older than her, 23 years at the time, and had ducked into the diner where she worked during a thunderstorm.

She had greeted him with a "Hey, what can I get you?"

He'd shaken out the rain from his shaggy hair and grunted out a, "Coffee, black."

She'd been intrigued by him from that starting moment. He was all hard lines and scruffiness, in a mysterious way that was foreign to a girl-next-door type like her. He was the exact opposite of what Beth generally found herself attracted to, and he was a far cry from the poster of Zac Efron she had on her wall. Her preferred type of guy was much prettier and put together in a way that matched her.

Daryl was more of the baggy jeans and T-shirt under a beat up leather jacket type.

But somehow from the moment he looked up at her with his wet hair sticking up all over the place, she wanted to know more about him.

When the storm wasn't letting up, he eventually called her back over to order some food. He glanced briefly at the nametag pinned to her uniform and said, "Yeah, uh-Beth? Lemme get a cheeseburger with this."

The sound of her name coming from his deep and hoarse southern timbre of his voice had sent a small tremor down her spine and in her belly.

She had been all rosy-cheeked after that and nodded with an embarrassed smile, "Can do sir, it'll be right out."

He grabbed hold of her wrist as she made to go clear off another table. "It's Daryl."

The warmth of his touch licked over her skin and she could only nod again while her face turned beat red. When he chuckled with a small smirk, she shuffled off quickly after that with the image of his smirk burned into her thoughts.

The bell of the door tinged and Beth realised Daryl was the only remaining customer. She was supposed to be off that day, but she'd switched shifts with a sick Sasha as a favour.

She'd brought him his meal and the smirk was still there. "Thanks Beth."

He spoke to her as if he'd been speaking to her for years. She blinked. "No problem. Need anything else, Daryl?"

He'd looked up with his mouth full and shook his head. There was a flash of amusement in his eyes at her use of his given name.

She was semi-mortified when she realised her cheeks were heating up again. The bastard had been completely aware of her reactions to him.

He finished eating when the storm blew over. When she went to clear his table, she found he'd left a generous tip and had written a smiley face on the receipt.

She giggled at his antics and closed up for the day, all while thinking of a pair of cobalt coloured eyes shining in mirth.

The next week Sasha was still sick. Beth was starting to think she should be getting a raise for working all of the other woman's hours at the rate Beth was going.

It was late afternoon on Wednesday again; she'd come out to the counter only to see Daryl sitting in her same booth.

"Back so soon? Did ya miss me or somethin'?"

She didn't know what had possessed her to say it but she had. She was utterly surprised at herself but also unable to take the words back.

"Something like that." He seemed amused again. That smirk was firmly in place, but he let his eyes roam over her a little longer than he had before.

She coughed slightly at the length of his stare, "What're you having today?"

He ordered the same thing he had the previous week, and she hurried to place the order.

He smiled at her again when she came back with his coffee, and she smiled softly in return, looking down at him with pleased but curious eyes.

It turned out that Sasha and her boyfriend Bob were expecting a baby so she needed to cut back her hours. Beth had been more than happy to switch her schedule round so that Wednesdays were her regular day on and Fridays were now her day off.

It was much more convenient for her, and she hoped that maybe she'd catch a glimpse of the handsome and elusive Daryl. She'd lucked out as she saw him sliding into her booth.

"I'm starting to sense a pattern here," she joked, coming up to the table

He wasn't wearing his jacket that day, and she could see the definition of his muscles under his shirt. Arms like that had to be illegal. They were perfect. She'd been beyond blushing like a schoolgirl in his presence though and simply glanced appreciatively. She doubted that he minded

He caught on to where her gaze was trained, and a grin stretched across his lips. "Well what can I say, Beth, I like the burgers and the service ain't bad either." He winked, and she melted.

"Glad to be of service then," she stammered a bit but held it together otherwise. The look he sent her then had a whole new part of her body heating up.

When she'd gone to clean up his plates after he left that day, she'd found a phone number instead of a smiley face.

* * *

It was a Thursday when they'd had their first date.

Beth had been nervous as hell, but her sister Maggie helped calm her down. Maggie even picked out her outfit for her. Wearing a simple red blouse and skinny jeans paired with her lucky tan cowboy boots, she was all ready for wherever he was taking her by the time he showed up.

When she opened the door, he was leaning against the side frame as if he'd already been there before. There was just something about his presence that made her a cross between comfortable and thrilled. He was so new, and yet, she felt like she'd known that smirk forever.

He raked over her body with interest in his expression and she stood there letting him. He laughed freely when he saw her boots. It wasn't a mean laugh but more of a light sound. She liked the warmth that spread around her upon hearing it.

"Well howdy, Beth."

The teasing twinkle that lit up his face had her gleaming back, "Howdy. I'm ready to go."

He took her to get hotdogs from a famous stand called _Jimmies_,and they drove in his truck to a little park nearby to eat their food.

She learned that he worked restoring cars and that he enjoyed watching MMA fights on TV with his brother Merle when the other man was around. That he'd grown up in a rough neighbourhood and had gotten out as soon as he was old enough. That he shared an apartment with his co-worker and friend, whose name was Tyreese. And most amusingly, that he did in fact enjoy food apart from black coffee and cheeseburgers.

She told him that her Daddy owned a farm, which she'd grown up on before moving closer to the city. That her dream was to be a singer and that's why she'd left home. However, her expenses drove her to get the diner job. That her older sister was married to a Korean man named Glenn who owned a pizza place and they had a toddler named Henry that Beth loved to spoil.

They stayed talking on one of the park benches until it was almost 1am. He apologised for having to cut their conversation short but that he had to be up for work in a few hours. She blushed at the late hour but smiled. "Maybe next time we should leave a little earlier," she quipped.

"So there's gonna be a next time, huh?" He quirked his eyebrow at her, and she wasn't quite sure if he realised how adorable it made him look.

"Uh huh." She nodded slowly and purposefully as he leaned closer to her. She inhaled sharply at the proximity before he bridged the gap between them and kissed her.

His mouth moved expertly over hers and stirred something inside of her. She kissed him back with passion. The move had been anticipated, but she hadn't expected this flare of want resulting from the sealed promise of a next time. It was gloriously more than she could've imagined.

Oh yes, there would be a next time. If she hadn't been completely sure before that moment, she was sure afterward. And when he pulled back, breathing heavily and resting his forehead on hers, she couldn't prevent the breathy, "Wow," that escaped her.

He laughed throatily and took hold of her hand as they neared her door. "So same day next week?

* * *

Beth told him that she loved him on a Friday.

They'd been seeing each other for nearly five months when it had just slipped out.

Through that time, he still ate at the diner every Wednesday and then would pick her up on Thursday for their date nights. Sometimes he dropped her back home and see her again over the weekend. Sometimes he stayed over and they'd spend the night memorizing each other's bodies and sleeping in the next morning because she had the next day off. It had been one of those mornings when she'd said it.

He'd gotten up to get dressed for work and she had been playfully attempting to sway him to stay in bed with her. She ran her hand across his back and peppered kisses across his shoulder.

On the first night that they'd slept together,she'd found out about his scars after seeing him for two months.

"Ya don't wanna know about those doll. They're ugly."

He'd been ashamed and almost left before they'd even gotten started.

"_Well maybe they aren't the prettiest sight Daryl but they're a part of you. That means they could never be ugly."_

He'd taken her breath away with his kiss in response and they had never looked back. She hadn't needed to hear the drawn out details of his tattered past so she'd never asked for anything more than what he told her. She had an idea, but the man in her arms didn't let the marks of abuse define him and that's all she'd cared about.

In fact he had told her that he'd come to rather like Beth's tender exploration of them with her mouth. It was something she often used to distract him to stay with her for a few more hours.

Smirking, he pulled away from the kisses she was covering his shoulder with. "Damnit woman, your gonna make me late again. Imma get fired one of these day cause a you."

"I am not! You're exaggerating Dixon!" she pouted.

"Na uh," he teased back, "your gonna get me fired and I'm gonna have to be a bum because I won't be able to pay rent and then your gonna have to break up with me cause you deserve better than a hobo."

"No way! I'd love you even if you were a hobo."

She hadn't fully thought out her words before she said it. She'd intended for her voice to come across playfully, but it came out softly. He froze while buttoning his shirt.

It was silent between them but he broke it by crossing the room and planting a chaste kiss against her parted lips. "I'd love you even if you were a hobo too."

He said it quietly, but his tone was steady as he spoke and his eyes bore intensely and unwaveringly into hers.

She smiled shakily, her heart going a mile a minute. He kissed her forehead and left for work.

"I'll be seeing you later."

She'd never thought anything else had felt as natural in her entire life.

* * *

Beth told him that he was going to be a father on a Saturday.

It hadn't been planned. They had been together for a year and a half and had moved in together three months prior. They rented a small apartment in a four-floor walk up, just outside of Atlanta. Beth had started singing at a local place on nights when she didn't have shifts at the diner.

Daryl had gone in with his old roommate Ty in opening their own garage. It had been a successful venture, and soon 'Crossbow Motors' was the most popular shop to take a car north of the city.

Beth and Daryl hadn't had any serious conversations regarding the future although she was so sure her father had mentioned something to Daryl at her 25th birthday celebration a week earlier.

Beth hadn't felt like she'd really needed a ring though. She was Daryl's and he was hers. It was simple and they already could say a lot to each other without having to bring up big words like marriage.

She assumed that she'd just caught the same stomach bug that her nephew Henry had, but after two straight weeks of feeling sick finally gone at a doctor. Daryl had offered to go with her but, she'd waved him off. After all, a stomach bug was nothing serious.

Oh, she had been so wrong about it just being a stomach bug.

She called him after finding out, leaving him a brief voicemail that she felt better and was excited to see him later. She hadn't exactly planned out how she was going to tell him, but it turned out she didn't even need to.

In celebration of her finally feeling better, he brought home a bottle of her favourite wine. She looked at him wide-eyed and swallowed thickly before informing him that she couldn't drink.

He'd looked at her questioningly before his own pupils expanded, and at his look, she knew that he'd figured it out.

"So-I Mean-You're really? This is happening?"

She let out a slight breath she'd been holding. "Yeah. It's real, we're-we're gonna have a baby."

He hugged her then, drawing her as close to his chest as she thought may have been physically possible. It had been all of the assurance she needed.

* * *

Beth gave birth to their daughter Judith on a Sunday.

It was past 4am in the morning when the newborn's cries had joined hers in the hospital room. Daryl took one look at his daughter and fell completely in love.

A blue that was a perfect mix of his cobalt and Beth's sky irises stared back at him as he held her for the first time. He gazed down in wonderment at an exhausted Beth. "Thank you. Thank for giving me this, for giving me her, she's amazing," he croaked.

In that moment, she'd known that her life was never going to be the same.

* * *

It was a Monday when Beth agreed to marry him.

There was absolutely no warning when it happened. It was completely out of the blue and there was no planning that went into it.

It was a crisp afternoon in October and they were walking with a two-year-old Judith in the same park where they'd had their first date. It was a week before Halloween and they had been debating what they were going to go as when they went trick or treating with Judy. She'd veto-d his Bonnie and Clyde idea not wanting to carry any sort of weapon, even a fake one, around their young child. While he'd veto-d his Sunny and Cher idea, she should've known that one would've been a long shot.

"Oh I got it," she'd finally said after they'd gone through her entire costume list without success, "we should be hobos!"

He'd turned to her on the bench with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and said the last thing she'd expected, "Let's get married."

She had coughed in shock, "What?"

"Lets do it tonight. Just you, me and Judy." He'd nodded as if this was the best idea he'd ever had, "What'd ya say Beth, will you marry me and always be mine?"

She had had absolutely no clue what it was about that day that'd prompted him to propose but she knew her answer. She'd known it for years.

So with tears in her eyes she'd grinned, "Okay, but for the record I was always yours anyways."

* * *

It was a Tuesday when she'd almost lost him.

He had been working extra hard on a project that would bring in extra money because they were saving to move to a house. It'd been three years since they got married and Judy was getting too big for the small room she'd had in the apartment.

She'd gotten the call while she was at work; he'd been in an accident on his way to the day care. She had rushed to the hospital and been absolutely terrified when told that he was still unconscious.

It'd had to have been the longest week of her life. They'd formed this partnership together and now she didn't know how to go about without him. It was then that she'd realised how precious what'd they'd built was.

When he'd finally opened his eyes, she told him that she wouldn't have been able to go on without him and that in no uncertain terms was he ever to scare her like that again.

He weakly smirked at her, a deep fondness in his eyes as he met hers, "Never again doll, I love you."

* * *

It was a Wednesday again and surprisingly the diner was quite busy.

Beth was thirty-three, she'd been working there for ten years now and the place hadn't changed a bit. It held a special spot in her heart; it had been here that she'd met Daryl after all.

The bell above the door rang and she'd yelled behind her, "I'll be with you in a minute!"

"No need, we know where we'll be sitting ma'am." After all this time his voice still got her pulse racing and his timing was like clockwork.

"Yeah mommy you is silly, we always sit here!"

Her six-year-old daughter laughed at her while sliding into the booth that Daryl had claimed all those years ago. It would always be his and she would always be there to bring him his regular cheeseburger, no matter how much time passed.

She tickled her daughters side playfully, "Yes silly me sweetie."

She moved to kiss her husband, pulling back with a smirk of her own that she'd adapted over time. "So what can I get you stranger?" she said jesting.

He laughed, that mirthful sound that had become like music to her ears every time she heard it. His lips twitched as he gave a mock, "coffee, black."

She smiled in response and he winked. Just like he had done before she'd taken a chance and ultimately made the best decision of her life.

Thinking back to all the Wednesdays over the past ten years, she couldn't have been more thankful for that thunderstorm that first drew him into the diner and to her.

Beth watched from behind the counter as her husband and daughter laughed together. Yes, she couldn't have been luckier than when she had met Daryl Dixon.


End file.
